Why does a bubble in a bloodstream cause your body to go haywire?

Question

Why does a bubble in a bloodstream cause your body to go haywire?

In: 78

Answer 1

Physician here: without going into too much detail, essentially, as little bubbles float around your vessels, they can block up vessels smaller than the bubbles. In a vein, these can block off vessels in the lungs. In an artery, they can block whatever tissue is at the end of the artery injected. Inject lots of air, and there’s a nonzero chance of a big bubble forming and not breaking down much.

Some gases dissolve well in blood. In fact, CO2 is used to see X-ray anatomy of vessels on patients who can’t get contrast.

Nitrogen is not well dissolved in blood and will create the bubbles we don’t want. Our atmosphere is mostly nitrogen.

Answer 2

Physician here: without going into too much detail, essentially, as little bubbles float around your vessels, they can block up vessels smaller than the bubbles. In a vein, these can block off vessels in the lungs. In an artery, they can block whatever tissue is at the end of the artery injected. Inject lots of air, and there’s a nonzero chance of a big bubble forming and not breaking down much.

Some gases dissolve well in blood. In fact, CO2 is used to see X-ray anatomy of vessels on patients who can’t get contrast.

Nitrogen is not well dissolved in blood and will create the bubbles we don’t want. Our atmosphere is mostly nitrogen.